Interesting Poll

A recent poll of more than 350,000 Americans on the importance of religion revealed that the nation is separated into enclaves of widely divergent viewpoints on faith, with some states and regions clearly religious and others significantly secular.

Gallup conducted a telephone poll of 355,334 U.S. adults, asking the question, "Is religion an important part of your daily life?"

As one might suspect, states from the "Bible Belt" scored the highest, with 85 percent of Mississippians and 79 percent of Tennesseeans, for example, answering yes.

The poll also revealed, however, that in addition to the Bible Belt, the U.S. also has a pair of "secular strips."

The New England states of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine scored the lowest in the nation, with only 42 percent of Vermont residents – or less than half the percentage of those in Mississippi – answering yes.

The other "secular strip" can be found in the West, where Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Nevada all scored in the bottom 10 states for affirming religion's importance in daily life.

Across the country's entirety, 65 percent of the respondents affirmed that religion is an important part of their lives.